Survivor's Yve: Jeff Probst Threw Me Under the Bus

To hear Yve Rojas tell it, she has many people to blame for her early exit from Survivor: Nicaragua. She points the finger at Tyrone Davis for eating too much, at Dan Lembo for complaining too much, and at herself for dropping the ball. But the most surprising person the 41-year-old homemaker blames is host Jeff Probst. "I think Jeff threw me under the bus a little bit when he said, 'Why wouldn't you keep someone like Dan around?" Rojas said. She talked with TVGuide.com about why she failed to connect with her teammates, why she wanted Dan to go, and what her tribe needs to do to get on top.

TVGuide.com: Why do you think you failed to connect with your tribemates both last week and this week? Yve Rojas: I approached the ladies immediately following Tyrone's tribal council, asking, "What was that about?" They had misinterpreted my talking to Tyrone and thought we were aligned. The conversation I was actually having with Tyrone was about the food consumption. He did eat a lot. At that point in the night, Alina had had nothing to eat because Tyrone consumed so much rice, so I was telling him to slow down. When I told that to Alina she said thank you and that she was surprised, but by that time, the assumption had been made. Power of perception is powerful. The perception was that I was aligned with Tyrone, and we were both surprised at that vote.

TVGuide.com: Do you think the tribe voted you out primarily because of that perceived alliance or because you were seen as a strong competitor? Yve: I was approached and felt somehow confident going in, knowing that NaOnka, Holly and Chase had said that I was safe. Now, I also knew I had to somewhat plead my case. They knew I was 17 years older. They knew as much as I would be competitive and try my best, I wasn't 20 years old, nor was the jury going to be stacked with my peers. I'm not sure what exactly it was that I said that made them change their vote in the last few seconds. The outcome, unfortunately, was my leaving the game instead of Dan.

TVGuide.com: Why do you think the team decided to keep Dan over you despite his bad knee and his expressed desire to quit the game? Yve: I don't think he would have actually quit, because his pride would get in the way too much. But just his confidence and complaining irritated me. He suggested quitting more than once. He suggested asking the jury to let him go. Quite frankly, I think Jeff threw me under the bus a little bit when he said, "Why wouldn't you keep someone like Dan around? Clearly, he's somebody you'd want to take to the end over someone who's competitive." Its hurts a little bit." Was Dan a nice guy? Yes, but I was so grateful and thankful to be in Nicaragua and playing the game that I just felt so disheartened to have someone out there constantly cursing the land and constantly complaining.

TVGuide.com: Do you think you would have lasted longer if you had been swapped to the La Flor tribe? Yve: If I had been left with Marty or Jill, it would have been different. But also, I own the fact that the game was in my control to play and I hesitated at the swap, and hesitated the day after. It was really in my power to play a little harder, but I think I dropped the ball.

TVGuide.com: What does your tribe have to do to make it to the merge? Yve: I think they need to just communicate better, especially on Espada. The feelings and the alliances I understood when I was present seemed so different than what I heard at tribal council. You can't ever 100 percent trust anybody, but it sounds like they're still three-quarters of the way from being strongly aligned and unified.